Nearly a year after the tragic shooting of 17 Iraqis by
Blackwater security contractors, the Department of Justice is close to
indicting six of the guards involved in the horrific events. This is a long
overdue step toward holding contractors legally responsible for their actions
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But this positive move risks being overshadowed by a more
destabilizing development: the apparent agreement, as part of U.S.-Iraqi Status
of Forces Agreement negotiations, to revoke the immunity from Iraqi law that
private security contractors have enjoyed… more
Under pressure from the U.S.,
Europe and the IMF, representatives of 25 sovereign wealth funds managing about
$3 trillion in assets met last week in Singapore to discuss how to allay
fears about their investments. These large pools of government-controlled
wealth are investing in everything from Barclays and Citigroup to New York's Chrysler
Building. As they
transcend traditional boundaries between foreign policy, financial markets and
national security, it is natural that Western capitals are worried.
However, shining the spotlight too brightly on sovereign wealth
funds (SWFs) may… more
...The great American campaign speech is obviously hard
to pull off and, for the readers among us, now hard to find. Students
no longer stand before classrooms and recite the hallowed words of past
office-holders and -seekers, and the small volumes of political
speeches that once lined every American library – I cadged some
splendid ones when Dartmouth's Baker Library disposed of its collection
35 years ago – are a thing of the past.
Thus the offerings in Michael A. Cohen's Live From
the Campaign Trail meet… more
"It's not unusual for an American administration to avoid urging reluctant parties into peace negotiations," said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator based at Washington's New America Foundation. "But it's unprecedented for the U.S. not to get behind and encourage a peace negotiation once it's been launched." LINK
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s April 29 event that highlighted the presidential candidates' domestic policy plans appeared in David Wessel’s column in The Wall Street Journal (5/1/08). New America's Health Policy Program Director is quoted in the article.
. . Mr. Nichols says that Sen. McCain's plan to allow people in one state to buy individual insurance in another -- essentially deregulating this part of the insurance market -- amounts to "ideology trumping policy."… more
. . . Mr. Nichols says that Sen. McCain's plan to allow people in one state to buy individual insurance in another -- essentially deregulating this part of the insurance market -- amounts to "ideology trumping policy." Rational insurers will attract the healthy with low premiums and boost premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. "Fifty to 75 million Americans will discover what 'actuarially fair' really means," he says. (Sharply higher premiums.) The result, he predicts, will be… more
